New York Giants Week 1 Report Card: Ugly

The New York Giants were no match for the Minnesota Vikings in the Week 1 regular-season opener.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants running back Devin Singletary (26) carries the ball as Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stephon Gilmore (2) makes the tackle during the second half at MetLife Stadium. / John Jones-Imagn Images

The grades are in on the Giants’ 28-6 Week 1 loss to the Vikings on Sunday, and they’re not good at all.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) throws the ball during the first half against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Offense

Ugly doesn’t begin to describe the type of day the Giants offense had. Start with quarterback Daniel Jones (22-of-42, 186 yards, 2 INTs), who picked up where he left off before last year’s torn ACL injury with some bad football.

The Vikings took away his first read, forcing Jones to go elsewhere, and it just wasn’t pretty at all. His two interceptions were on plays the defense saw coming from Pluto.

And while the rest of the offense wasn’t any better–there were five dropped balls, and the revamped offensive line looked like a unit that, in the words of left tackle Andrew Thomas played “piss poor,”  Jones did himself no favors with his continued slow post-snap reads which had he expedited, he might have avoided three of his sacks.

Not even Malik Nabers’ five-catch, 66-yard performance could have this unit’s grade. 

Grade: F

Defense

That vaunted pass rush of Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns that we were all looking forward to seeing wreak havoc? It delivered just one sack (from Lawrence), while Thiboeaux was shut out in the tackle department on the stat sheet. He also had a killer face mask penalty that kept a Vikings scoring drive alive. Ouch! 

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II (97) celebrates his sack with cornerback Nick McCloud (44) during the first quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Giants only hit Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold twice all day as the former Jet cared up the defensive secondary to the tune of 208 yards and two touchdowns, one of which came when Justin Jefferson beat Deonte Banks on a 3-yard score after being beaten earlier on a 44-yard pass. 

Want some good? Dru Phillips forced a fumble against C.J. Ham, and Bobby Okereke recovered. And linebacker Darius Muasau, who got the start with Micah McFadden missing, picked off Darnold. Still, the bad outweighed the good with this unit, which allowed 312 total net yards on the day and couldn’t stop either of the Vikings two red zone trips from reaching the end zone. 

Grade: D

Special Teams

Punt returner Gunner Olszewski re-injured his groin during warmups, which forced the Giants to put Darius Slayton back there. Slayton muffed his first return attempt, which was fortunately recovered by Dane Belton, avoiding disaster, but they lost eight yards on the play. 

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants place kicker Graham Gano (9) on the field before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

On the plus side, Graham Gano hit both field goal attempts, including one from 50 yards out, and punt gunner Bryce Ford-Wheaton downed a Jamie Gillan punt at the 1-yard line that Ty Summers, a practice squad elevation, Belton, and Nick McCloud kept from rolling into the end zone for a touchback.

Grade: B

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll looks on during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / John Jones-Imagn Images

Coaching

Head coach Brian Daboll’s debut as Giants playcaller was a disaster. The Giants opted to go heavy at the start of the game, perhaps in an attempt to slow down the Vikings’ pressure packages (which worked), but beyond that, there was maybe one deep shot that went over 20 air yards taken and a lot of designed quarterback runs, including two in a row at midfield. In all, the Giants looked like a team whose starters barely played any snaps together in the preseason.

Grade: F

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